"What plans after 10th beta?" ,"Did you apply to that college? It's the number one college in the city?" ,"Mahi is preparing for NEET exam and Jayant is done with his JEE. What about you?"
Aren't these some questions that we all are tired of hearing? We are constantly under the watch of society's eyes and we often are influenced by such questions. And this results in us making the wrong decisions under pressure.
Choosing a career or profession is a huge step in a student's life. We are presented with 1000s of opportunities by 1000s of people and to pick one from those options is a tedious task.
After we pass our 10th class, suddenly we become the object of everyone's attraction. The whole world becomes curious to know of our decision. Their concern is justified, I wouldn't deny that, but when it becomes just too much, especially at that point when we forcefully take a decision to keep them happy, it is wrong.
Now when we've made a choice - arts or commerce or science or anything else, then again you'd have a bunch of people asking us the Whys, and Hows of your choice, which probably shakes our confidence if we don't have satisfactory answers to those questions. And after this fight with their questions and our answers begins our journey of junior college.
Junior college is the dream world of college life that probably everyone has had. We meet so many new faces with amazing ideas and perspectives that now we are exposed to a new way of thinking. We may even begin to rethink our decision as we hear Priya say she's preparing for the UPSC exam or Milind boasts about his new MBA plan. Junior college experience may be different for all, but one thing is common meeting new people with new ideas was the best part of it.
Completing our junior college brings us into the true world of choices, hardships and friendships, the degree college or the university life. This is the time that most of us have to make their final decision. Whether we've just cleared the JEE/NEET exams or we've just finished 12th class from any other stream, it is in these 3-4 years that we understand our life and what we want to do with it.
The college life welcomes a whole new set of problems as well as opportunities. "Beta, she applied to the abroad college, where are you going to apply?" , "I'm planning to join this coaching class as it's the best, what about you?" , "What after graduation? BA/BSc/Engineering/Medical/BCom, etc. this is so common, everyone does it these days and they don't get jobs, what are you going to do?" These are the questions that are thrown at us. We need answers. And looking for them is what we do in these 3-4 years. Yes, we may have a fantastic social life with the best of the best friends to support us or even a small gang of ours to be with, but reality would hit us all the time in different forms like when M.K. SIR begins using the Today's Youth example or simply when you see your best friend is doing better than you.
The final year of the college or the university life is the ultimate deciding factor of our career. The decision that we make then, becomes our life. This decision can be based on Manu's decision or other aunty's ideas or our own views and goals. But this decision should be something that we want from life. I know, that knowing what we want from life is easier said than done. And this decision is also not something like your daily meal which you have everyday (Aao, khaao, aur jaao). It is difficult to choose as apart from the external conflict that we have faced all our life, we are also battling the internal conflict since day 1, about right and wrong, about our passions as a career, or simply about giving up, which we know, we can't.
After struggling and fighting, we make our decision. A decision that we know is yet again going to face the scrutiny of the society and the internal wars of right and wrong. It is this decision that would shape our lives and we totally understand it. That is the best part of being a student, a young adult, that we know our priorities and what we want from life, despite being reminded of it many times. We know that we would do something to survive in this world which may or may not meet others' expectations. We know our dreams. We just aren't confident enough to stand by it and support it as this world demands results, six-figure salaries, fixed jobs and whatnot. But deep down, we know we are happy with our dream and we will definitely fulfil it one day, no matter what society says!